Faint Echoes
by Psycho-Wolf
Summary: There is a strange sight in Konoha! What's wrong with Naruto? TentenxOC Might change if plot goes a different way
1. Faint Echoes

A/N: The time setting is for the start of this fic is just about halfway through the search for Tsunade Arc. Setting is Konoha.

This is the first fanfic I've written in years. I will post new chapters has they are written and typed.

This is TentenxOC. Maybe some Lemon later on. Haven't decided yet. :) Though I may change it later on... ;-)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I am writing this solely out of appreciation and love for Mr. Kishimoto's work.**

_(And besides if I did... well suffice to say I am a pervert) :X_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

"Choji! Can you lay off the food for once!?! I would like to have some to!" screamed Ino Yamanaka to her teammate.

Shikamaru just sighed at the familiar scene that happened all too often at the Bar-B-Que.

Thus he wasn't prepared when he looked out the window to see a sight so startling that he choked on a piece of meat.

Noticing his best friend's distress, Choji rushed to help him as Ino jumped up to see what had caused the incident. Her eyes grew wide at the sight before her.

"I think Naruto has finally lost it" she said as the figure proceeded past.

Now, normally the number one hyperactive ninja _just_ walking down the street isn't a sight that causes too much excitement. But today he seemed just _slightly _off.

* * *

Shino waited outside the weapon shop. Hinata had gone in to pick up some new kunai as they went to meet Kiba at the training grounds.

Shino sat calmly, observing his surroundings and enjoying the feeling of his little friends crawling beneath his skin.

Now, if Shino's face wasn't covered, those around him would have noticed a very un-Shino like expression come over his face.

"Shino-kun, I got everything I needed." Hinata said quietly as she exited the shop.

"Hinata, has it seemed that, at all as of late, that Naruto has lost his mind?"

Blushing at her "secret" loves name, Hinata responded meekly; "Not that I've noticed…HCK!" She stopped with a rather un-Hinata like sound as she followed Shino's gaze, only to stop wide-eyed at the sight of what appeared to be Naruto's strange manner of dress.

Now, normally Naruto's outfit is strange enough, seeing as how the rambunctious ninja wears orange and blue. But this time he was wearing what appeared to be black ninja shoes, black cargo shorts, black t-shirt, black headband and with his left arm wrapped in white bandages.

It looked, oddly enough, like he was seriously attempting to emulate Sasuke.

"Hinata, you're forgetting to blush…" Shino commented. To which she seemed too shocked to notice.

"Shino! Hinata! What's taking so…" The exuberant Kiba stopped in his tracks at the look on his female teammate's face. Looking with raised eyebrows at Shino, all Shino could do was point.

Looking in the direction Shino indicated, Kiba's jaw dropped and his eyes seemed to bug out. Swallowing hard, he looked to his teammates.

"Hinata, you're not blushing" were the only words he could manage to croak out.

Shaking his head, Kiba summoned back his senses and vocabulary.

"Well, I suppose I'll go find out what the hell is going on" he proclaimed as he walked towards the strangely dressed figure.

"OI! NARUTO!!! What the hell are you wearing!?!"

At the sound of Kiba's yell, Hinata finally snapped out of her shock and proceeded to blush _furiously_.

"HEY! MORON! I'm talking to you!" Kiba yelled as he closed in, only to come to a dead stop a few feet away.

*SNIFF* *SNIFF*

The figure dressed in black turned with a disturbed, questioning look on his face.

"Excuse me… Are you… sniffing me?"

"Sorry, man… Thought you were… someone else…"

Kiba started backing away at the dangerous look in the strangely-clad stranger's eyes, only to have the person turn and continue walking.

"Uh guys… that wasn't Naruto…" To which Akamaru stuck his head out of Kiba's jacket to yip his agreement.

"Are you sure?" Shino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep. He definitely looks like Naruto, but the nose doesn't lie."

"ARF!"

"And… I dunno… there was something strange about him…" Kiba added.

"Aa-nd, isn't N-N-Naruto-kun out training w-with Jiraya-sama?" Hinata squeaked out as she fought to regain her composure while simultaneously chiding herself for blushing over a non-Naruto.

"Regardless of the fact that they could have returned, I think this bears further investigation." Shino commented to his teammates.

As they all turned to look, they realized that the pseudo-Naruto was nowhere in sight. After a small search that dead-ended just into an alleyway, they decided to keep a look out for him, but return to their training.

Besides, with the heightened security, no one who was unauthorized could get in, right?


	2. Slight Whispers

**Faint Echoes chapter 2; Slight Whispers **

A/N: Unfortunately this chapter is short, but it is required for how I want the flow to go.

Well, hope I don't disappoint with this one! :D

Also, thanks go to my unofficial Beta Reader, Tragedy Bunny!

**I don't own Naruto. (Though I wouldn't mind borrowing some of the ladies) :X**

**

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Over the next week, the trio kept an eye out for the stranger with no luck at all, so they gradually stopped looking. They figured it was probably just a freak occurrence.

The other teams started to notice though, that one or two Academy students would come and watch their training. They didn't think anything of it, figuring the children were just interested in what practice was like and getting an idea of Jutsu they might learn one day.

Everyone but Team Guy ignored the children, other than during small, after practice chit-chat.

Only one ever showed up to their practice. Maybe it was because Guy-Sensei thought it was such a heart-rending sight.

"AHH! The power and eagerness of Youth!" Might Guy proclaimed!

"It is so touching!" yelled Lee from the sidelines.

The child, despite meek protests, was dragged with fevered excitement by Guy to join in with the day's activities.

He was even assigned a "sparring" partner.

One exasperated Neji Hyuga.

When Neji activated his Byakugan for the first time around the child, he thought he glimpsed something out of place. The feeling quickly passed though, and "sparring" began.

Now, these two quickly took to disliking each other with a passion.

To Neji, not only because the kid, who announced his name to be Rika, was giving him a bit of an attitude after five minutes, but also because he kept giving Tenten sidelong glances.

It also didn't help that this little snot seemed to be habitual in his determination to fight dirty and be quite liberal with the cheap shots. Not that fighting was fair in the Shinobi world, but the kid was taking it kind of far. He even went to the point of punching Neji in the crotch when sparring was finally called to an end.

To be fair, Rika only started because Neji spent that first five minutes thoroughly criticizing every aspect of his fighting style, even putting him face down in the dirt 30 times to "demonstrate" his flaws. Neji further proceeded to show an otherwise complete disgust at having to pair with him in the first place.

Afterwards, Rika was invited back. From then on though, he made sure to keep well hidden. This, naturally, was a sad, sad disappointment to Guy and Lee. Neji, seeing him with his Byakugan, was aggravated at the kid's presence, but relieved that the kid at least had the sense to stay away.

* * *

Team Kurenai, upon hearing of these "visits" to the other Team's practices, were just a _little_ bit upset.

Kiba in particular.

"WHAT THE HELL! What, were not interesting enough!?! DAMNIT!!" *ARF!*

Kiba and Akamaru seemed to sum up the group's disappointment quite nicely. Kiba spent the rest of the day being pissed-off , while Hinata and Shino were sullen.

* * *

The next day, Naruto and Jiraya returned with the new Hokage in tow. The following week was a relatively quiet one. Well, as quiet as can be expected when a new Hokage is being instated into office.


	3. Load Roars

**Faint Echoes chapter 3; Loud Roars**

A/N: HAI, GUY-SENSEI!

Once again, credit is due to the lovely Tragedy Bunny, for being my unofficial Beta Reader.

**Naruto and its characters are not mine. If so, Sasuke would have long ago been given several long, slow beatings, for being such a douche. (No offense meant to all the Sasuke lovers out there.)** **;-)**

* * *

A few days later everything had finally returned to (relative) normalcy.

It was a beautiful day on the training fields, the smell of grass and blossoms in the air. Tenten and Neji were participating in rounds of sparring. Guy-Sensei had been called away on a mission, and Rock Lee wasn't watching today due to having a physical therapy appointment. Thus, it was just the two of them.

They were so into their matches that they were both surprised when Team Kurenai showed up.

"Hey Neji! Hey Tenten!" Kiba exclaimed. "We came by to see if your "watcher" was around."

Neji, his Byakugan already activated, pointed a little south.

"He is right over there."

"Thanks." Kiba grunted. "Now to find out why we were left out."

Proceeding south, a wind blew by. This caused Akamaru to growl.

"What is it Boy?" said Kiba as he looked to his companion.

Suddenly, Kiba stopped and started sniffing…

"What the?!?"

"What is it Kiba-kun?"

Kiba just ignored her, continuing to sniff the air.

"Where have I smelled that before?" Kiba wondered to himself.

Suddenly his eyes widened considerably.

"HIM! IT'S HIM! That black clad Shinobi we ran into a few weeks ago!"

Instantly Shino, Kiba, and Hinata went into their fighting stances and leapt southward. Tenten and Neji were left just standing there with confused expressions on their faces.

Activating her own Kekkei Genkai, Hinata quickly located the child. It was especially easy as he was the only other presence in the area.

"Kiba-kun, are you sure?"

"Positive. Nose doesn't lie, remember?"

Hinata gasped suddenly. As they closed in, she saw the child quickly stand. His Chakra network suddenly flew into a flurry of activity as he formed a one-handed hand sign.

"Watch out! He's up to something!" was all Hinata had time to say as there was a sudden and very slight ringing noise. All she saw was the child's Chakra network waver strangely and disappear.

"The teleportation Jutsu" Kiba grunted.

"Not something your average Academy student should know."

"I know Shino! It was HIM!" Kiba roared as he swiped a devastating blow to the nearest tree trunk. "This is what he must have done last time!"

Shino looked to his teammates. "I think this is something the Hokage should know."

* * *

"WHAT!?! THERE WAS A STRANGE NINJA IN THE VILLAGE AND YOU DIDN'T REPORT IT???"

Team Kurenai and what was left of Team Guy found themselves in a very unpleasant place to be at the moment.

The new Hokage's office.

"Sorry Hokage-sama." Kiba said sheepishly. "It was part shock at what he looked like. We thought that maybe he was one of the recent Academy graduates…maybe."

Tsunade took her fists off of her desk and sat down.

"That's no excuse. *sigh* Any other odd occurrences lately?"

They told her about the Academy student "watchers".

Now unfortunately for those before her, her temper flared.

Now she needed a new desk, being as it was that her old one lay through the broken window in pieces on the stone below.

Boiling with rage she continued; "Did any of you think it was a little odd that these "students" weren't in class?"

"Umm…" Kiba piped up, "Me and the guys used to skip all the time"

"But not every day, correct? And your teachers would look for you, right?

"Umm… yep"

"Then how could these kids be skipping class so much and not be having people look for them?

"Umm…"

"Enough! So let me get this straight. A strange ninja was wandering around the village only to disappear. Then, what were thought to be Academy students started showing up to watch practices every day, correct? And when finally noticed by you three, the student disappears using the teleportation Jutsu?

"That's about the size of it" Kiba said with his head down like a dog with its tail between its legs.

Pacing at this point, the new found Hokage lapsed into thought.

"I think I heard about something like this a short while back…"

A few minutes passed in silence before she triumphantly raised her fist.

"That's what it was! There were stories of a young Sound Shinobi being found in two villages! It was about six months ago. He was discovered disguising himself as an Academy student in an attempt to learn Jutsu. He managed to escape both times and was never seen or heard from again."

"You five, go and search the village. Pass this along to any of the others you see. Try to keep this quiet, as he may still be around. I want him captured!"

As she looked at each of them, they stood there with blank expressions on their faces.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!? **GO!!!**" she bellowed.

And with that, they wisely fled.

Sighing, the newfound leader of Konoha put her head into her hand.

"Shizune… mobilize the remaining ANBU in the Village."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama!" she said as she left.

"AND GET ME A NEW DESK!"

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**Extended A/N: Hope you enjoyed this! The next chapter might take a little while. Ugh, fight scenes… Maybe I will find out that I enjoy them. Here's hopin'!**

**:D**


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